FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 853 



2. Plant shrubby, with erect, climbing, or trailing stems; flowers in short spikes 



or axillary clusters (3). 



3. Corolla regular or very nearly so, funnelform, funnelform-campanulate, 



or salverform, the tube not gibbous or swollen near the base; ovary 



4-celled; berry commonly white, 1- or 2-seeded _ 2. Symphoricarpos. 



3. Corolla more or less irregular, with a slightly to pronouncedly bilabiate 



limb, the tube more or less gibbous or swollen on one side near the 

 base; ovary 2- or 3-celled (the partitions sometimes incomplete); 

 berry not white, often containing more than 2 seeds. _ 4. Lonicera. 



1. SAMBUCUS. Elder 



Large shrubs or small trees; stems pithy; leaves large, pinnate, the 

 leaflets lanceolate to ovate; flowers in broad compound cymes, or 

 pyramidal cymose panicles; corolla rotate, cream-colored or yellowish; 

 fruits berry like. 



The foliage is browsed by domestic animals and deer. The fruits are 

 edible (except those of the red-fruited S. racemosa) and are very 

 attractive to birds. They are sometimes used for making jelly and 

 wine. It has been reported, however, that the fruits, as well as the 

 flowers, bark, and roots, when eaten raw, may poison animals. All 

 parts of the plants are reputed to have medicinal virtues, but these 

 are probably largely imaginary, although the flowers are stated to be 

 diuretic. The Mexican elder (S. mexicana), Arizona's most treelike 

 species, is sometimes planted as an ornamental in the southern part 

 of the State. 



Key to the species 



1. Inflorescence broadly short-pyramidal, with the axis extended beyond the 



lowest branches; leaflets lanceolate to oblong-ovate, sharply serrate; 



berries not glaucous (2). 



2. Berries bright red at maturity; branchlets and leaves glabrous or glabrate; 



leaflets commonly 7; corolla yellowish 1. S. racemosa. 



2. Berries black at maturity; branchlets and the lower face of the leaves usually 



scurf y-puberulent or sparsely villous; leaflets commonly 5; corolla whit- 

 ish 2. S. MELAXOCARPA. 



1. Inflorescence flat-topped, with elongate, compound rays, the axis not or seldom 

 extended beyond the lowest branches; berries dark blue, commonly 

 glaucous (3). 



3. Leaflets gradually long-acuminate, thin, commonly 5 or 7, lanceolate or 



oblong-lanceolate, the larger ones seldom less than 8 cm. long; inflores- 

 cence very open, 10 to 30 cm. wide, the primary branches usually hori- 

 zontally divergent 3. S. neomexicana. 



3. Leaflets short-acuminate, usually thickish, commonly less than 8 cm. long; 

 inflorescence somewhat dense, seldom more than 15 cm. wide, the primary 

 branches usually ascending (4) . 



4. Branchlets and the lower face of the leaflets finely pubescent, the branch- 



lets densely so; leaves deciduous; leaflets ovate or ovate-oblong. 



4. S. velutixa. 



4. Branchlets and leaves glabrous or sparsely pubescent, rarely copiously 



so (5). 



5. Leaves persistent; leaflets 3 to 5 (seldom with a small additional basal 



pair), oblong-lanceolate to ovate or somewhat obovate, rather 



abruptly acuminate, finely and closely serrate; berries moderately 



glaucous; plant usually a tree, up to 10 m. high 5. S." mexicana. 



5. Leaves deciduous; leaflets 5 to 9 (rarely only 3), lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, gradually acuminate, sharply and often rather deeply 

 serrate; berries very glaucous; plant commonly a large shrub; 

 branchlets and leaves glabrous or very nearly so- _ 6. S. coekvi.ea. 



1. Sambucus racemosa L., Sp. PL 1: 270. 1753. 



White Mountains (Apache and Greenlee Counties), both sides of 

 the Grand Canyon (Coconino County), 7,500 to 10,000 feet, moist 



